ADVENTURE'S DOWNUNDER OR FARMING IN PARADISE:An Old Rams view.

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day gang,well farm news is a bit scarce tonight.After two days off we got back this afternoon(had to smile at the granson when someone asked"how long before the wedding?.."YEARS"was his answer)Just quietly(between you and me ,I hope she is on the "pill" I'm far to "young" to be a Great Grandfather.LOL)...... Jumped into the work clothes got the dogs and went down to check the ewes,fill their waters,and work out where they are off to tomorrow ,that decided,headed off home on the way I looked at the next doors paddock only to find he has got a dozen Dorset Rams in there(What the),OH Well,sort that out later.

Framing Fowl asked:
(What do you do to up your stock when you are understocked? Do you buy more or just keep more lambs?)

This can cause quite a quandary.Do you buy someone else's "rejects" or do you "carry over' ewe lambs which you know are not up to the standard required to keep the overall flock strength.................Our answer is to "cull" those that in a normal year would be sold and give a bit more of our country a well earned rest..............This week I have to muster and draft off the wethers,so after that I will know how many ewe's will be added to the breeders next year.

This week I thought we could "chat" about WATER,its challenges and benefits,how to make more out of what we get and how we can repair some of its past ravages.(Is that OK with everyone?or is there something else you may want me to talk about?I'm happy either way,so speak UP.)

Because I have never undertaken "anything "like this before I am a little unsure if this is the right place to discuss my various "ramblings" about aspects of our farming "adventure's".Anyway tomorrow is a big day,chop off some chooks heads,move the ewes about1&1/2 kms and take a few more photo's for this weeks chat.

Still working on preparing for the next drought(Patience,Patience)and getting to grips with Production Costs.You know the stuff ROI.Costs v/s Returns,How will we pay the bills next month,etc,etc.

So until tomorrow night,stay safe and we hope to see you all visit again ............................................T.O.R...................................

 

[framing fowl]

Oh we love to hear about anything you want to talk about! Water is an interesting issue. Here in the states there are people in certain areas where it is illegal to harvest the rainwater from your roof. Basically, the water does not belong to you.

We had a 600 gallon rain barrel system set up for our garden two years ago but then sold it because we thought we were moving. Wish I still had it but it's a long term investment. For now, we'll mulch our garden heavily and pay for city water if we need it... still less expensive than vegies at the grocery.

 

[CrownofThorns]

Somehow I missed this journal until now. I'm happy to find it now! But I have to admit, I'm laughing at your cold... The average winter temperature here is -30 F, with it often dipping to -40 for weeks.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G,day gang,My God what a night!!............I need some help before I commit "suicide"................This afternoon when I logged on to Google Chrome,half the page had slipped to the "right",and it WOULD not come back......All my"stuff" is in the bookmark manager.............I had to go through FIREFOX to get here,because my passsword was in my hotmail,so I had to let in "cookies"...........S#*ts me to have to do that....................Maybe Nifty can help me?????

So to today ,woke up and Jenny said I think I will start to mow today.Now here's the thing we only "mow"3 times a year,once before winter and again mid-spring and again just before Xmas(so the kids and visitors can find the house.............So get out the ride-on,it took ages to start because it was soooo cold in the shed...Now she says"better start the little push mower",so the "bloody "pull cord breaks doesn't it,more *^#@!%&,takes it apart ,have to go to town to get a new one(40 km round trip).Get back with enough cord to do 2(the other push mowers one will break the next time I want to use it for sure)................Our house paddock is about 5 acs and we mow about half of it(so we can spot the "SNAKES" before they get to the house)..Jenny will be at this job for a few days.

This is what it can be like trying to get to the back gate!!!!!!!!!!

So to the rest of the day ,took "Jack" after lunch and moved those 240 odd head out to a new paddock,that went "great",Jack had to put then through 2 gateways and he did not lose 1(he got a special pat,when he was done!),those chooks have survived for another day.

We were going to chat a little bit about water weren't we??Well let me see(I'm am so stressed out about the computer I can hardly think)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Water comes to our farm with an up-side and a down-side.The up-side, waters our stock and makes the grass grow,it grows our veges and gives us water for our household needs.

The down-side is ,if not carefully managed, it can carry off all your top-soil,organic matter and nutrient load.In the past our farm has suffered, all three,as well as a deep cut (erosion)in a drainage line,all due to "poor management".Repairing this damage has been quite a task.Some efforts were undertaken before we purchased the place,but because of poor grazing management,little was achieved......................................The two photos below show our efforts in the deep cut drainage line.The original soil level was the flood plain in the background,(its about 6/7 ft deep at this point)in the later of the two photos ,you can see the way the water is de-energized when it hits the large pool before the trench,and it leaves via the near side of the photo..........The trench in the early photo was "dug" to provide a water point for the sheep,but prior to that the water came down here at such speed that it carried "all"before it...............The third photo shows it today!!!!!!!!!!

There is a problem uploading the photos,will edit them in later!!!Here they are!!!!

I re-done the last two photos to make it clearer.
P.S.C O T:Minus 8c is "cold "enough for us(LOL)thats why the title:Farming in Paradaise.
...................................................... T.O.R..............................

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day gang,great to see you back again and a special "hello" to any "guests".why not join up and join in?Because I "really" do need "feedback" so I know if I am on the right path.

Tragedy averted:My cry for help was answered by a "lass" in NZ.her solution worked and so everything is "wonderful".I sent her a BIG kiss which she can deposit anywhere it takes her "fancy".....................

So to today,Jenny started on the mower again and I helped out where I could.This is how it should look when we are finished!

After lunch I took Ruby out to check the ewes, I moved yesterday and on the way back we moved the 100 odd lambs out of the woodland so I can "draft "them tomorrow into ewe and wether groups.When I went to feed the dogs tonight they had that look"Chicken Tonite,dad"!!!

On the Water subject ,I thought we would move a little higher up the same "drainage line" and have a look at another "water speed " control device we have set up.

This point is in fact only about 100yds upstream of the other one,but if you look carefully,there is a little bank on the R/H side(it is more obvious in the second photo) which concentrates the water flow at this "check point".This increased speed takes all before it and it used to leave the property about 50yds below the first structure shown last night.The next photo shows the change over time.

(It really does make a difference being able to illustrate a point with a photo.)This difference has come about because the water is held here (but not permanently)along with organic mater and nutrient load to enable the grasses to "thrive".

Tomorrow we will look at a deep cut in the drainage line up-stream from this point and how we set about repairing this scar.

So,its over to you now.Is the "stuff" of any interest /value to you?I started this with the idea of it being a two-way exchange,not just me "chatting" about the day to day goings on ,on the farm.But if this is all you want ,just let me know.

Well till tomorrow night then,stay safe and I look forward to your "company "again...............................T.O.R............................

P.S.I seem to be using "up" my 2MB of photo space pretty fast,do you think Nifty will advance me some "more"?

 

[JRmom]

Wow, it's absolutely gorgeous. What varieties of grasses do you have?

If you have a Photobucket account, you can upload your photos there, then link them here and it won't use up your photo storage.

 

[savingdogs]

Good morning! I don't know how I missed this journal until now. Such an interesting one! Australia seems like such a cool place.

Your journal can be about whatever you want, you don't need our approval to discuss a topic. You can discuss whatever you like, that is the beauty of a forum, if people do not like the topic, they don't have to read! Sometimes it is helpful to change your journal title when you change topics so that it is obvious to all of us what you are discussing today. But it certainly isn't a requirement. People will tell you what they like to discuss.

I find all the land management discussion interesting. I don't quite know how to manage our land and you seem to have yours well in hand. Your before and after pictures are very interesting!

Thank you for sharing your story.

 

[Marianne]

Feel free to ramble on! Some don't say much but most of us like to read/learn about different ways of doing stuff.

The pics are great!

 

[TanksHill]

I find all of the things you have done very interesting.

How long has it taken to make these changes and for the grass to recover??

g

 

[lorihadams]

I love the house! I agree, use photobucket and that way you won't have to delete older photos to upload new ones on here. It's not hard to use once you get the hang of it.